Eave structure

ABSTRACT

A structural eave assembly readily installable and attachable to a building originally constructed without an overhanging eave comprises a separately fabricated, unitary structure having combined gutter, soffit, and fascia portions.

United States Patent 1 Scherf July 23, 1974 1 EAVE STRUCTURE [75] Inventor: Thomas W. Scheri, Vandergrift, Pa.

[73] Assignee: Aluminum Company of America, Allegheny, Pa.

[22] Filed: Nov. 29, 1972 [21] App]. No.: 310,433

[52] US. Cl. 52/11, 52/94 [51] Int. Cl E04d 13/06 [58] Field of Search 52/11, 15, 94, 95, 96, 52/12,13,14,16,199;61/14,15

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 380,864 4/1888 Cooper 52/94 X 874,510 12/1907 Johnston 52/11 1,142,253 6/1915 l-larris 52/96 2,849,966 9/1958 Lechaire 52/11 3,204,374 9/1965 Hellekson 52/94 3,436,877 4/1969 Gunning .1 3,440,778 4/1969 Miles et al. 3,478,474 1l/l969 Johansson 52/11 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 683,196 3/1964 Canada 52/11 25,583 11/1969 Australia 52/11 Primary Examiner-Price C. Faw, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firmlrvin V. Gleim; Edward M. Tritle [5 7] ABSTRACT A structural eave assembly readily installable and attachable to a building originally constructed without an overhanging eave comprises a separately fabricated, unitary structure having combined gutter, soffit, and fascia portions.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 EAVE STRUCTURE pleasing, high strength structure for finishing roof edge portions of a building in an economical manner, and more particularly, to an improved, unitary gutter, soffit, and fascia structure.

Heretofore, it has been a general practice to mount a gutter structure on a fascia member secured to the outer extremities of overhanging rafters of a building, and to box in the space below the rafters by a soffit member to provide an eave structure that is neat and finished in appearance. Such practice is expensive since it requires the labor of skilled carpentry to enclose the ends of the rafters to provide protection from the elements as well as support for the gutter and at the same time to provide a pleasing appearance.

The fabrication of dwelling houses and other types of building structures, and portions thereof, at a factory location, has provided known economies for builders and home owners through standardization and mass production techniques. The eave portion of wooden truss roofs of factory made houses, depending upon the extent of the overhang, can involve a substantial amount of lumber and roof structure, and thus substantial costs despite such standardization and mass production techniques. In shipping prefabricated roof trusses or modular house constructions with prefabricated roof structures, the over-all size of the trusses or modular roof structures is often limited by wide load regulations for highways as well as the widths of tunnels and bridges, and the location of railroad platforms that the structures must clear on their way to building sites.

In order not to unduly limit the size of the building structure because of the above clearance and shipping problems, one practice has been to fabricate, at the factory site, a wooden roof structure and separate eave portions for the structure. The cave portions are then pivotally attached to the edges of the roof, and rotated back upon the roof for shipping purposes thereby allowing full utilization of available clearances along the travel route for the roof and thus for the building itself SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a unitary structural eave that reduces the cost of building roof structures and gutter systems while simultaneously providing larger buildings to be transported in modulator form, or roof trusses to be prefabricated and shipped for larger buildings. This is accomplished by separately fabricating the cave in the form of an elongated, combined gutter, soffit and fascia arrangement and structure that is easily and quickly attached to the lower edges of a roof of a building that is constructed initially without eaves. The combined, unitary eave arrangement comprises a rearwardly extending wall portion for attachment to the roof, a horizontal bottom wall forming the soffit, and adapted to connect to a wall of the building, and an integral front vertical wall forming the fascia. The fascia and rearwardly extending wall portion have opposed inwardly facing edges that terminate in an integral gutter structure located above the soffit. The structure and configuration of the cave is such that it provides an aesthetically pleasing, completed, finished overhang structure that is, in addition, economical to manufacture and to fasten to the building. Further, the structure of the invention has a strength characteristic that makes it highly resistant to live loads and high velocity wind conditions, as explained in detail hereinafter.

DESCRIPTION The objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a building portion and illustrating structure and methods according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, partly broken, of a building portion and illustrating one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, prior art practice and structure includes the use of a fascia member extending between adjacent rafter members to partially close the space between the rafters at their overhanging ends. The open space between and below adjacent rafters and along the overhang is closed or boxed in by a soffit member connected between the fascia member and the outer wall of a building structure. The gutter is secured in place by connecting it to the fascia member and/or to the roof deck.

In FIG. 2, a building structure is indicated generally at 10'and comprises rafters ll, cross beams 12, a longitudinal beam 13, wall studs 14, an outer wall 15, and a roof deck 16. The roof deck, rafters and beams extend to the wall 15 and to a location that is essentially flush therewith.

An elongated eave assembly 10A for a building such as 10, and embodying the principles of the present invention, comprises a fascia portion 17, a rearwardly extending wall portion 18, and a gutter portion comprising side walls 19, 20 and bottom 21. A soffit member 22 extends between and is adapted to be connected to the building wall 15 and the fascia portion 17. The soffit may be formed integral with the fascia portion to form a single lineal system, as shown in FIG. 3, or fabricated as a separate member to form a system comprised of two elongated lineal portions 1 and 2, as shown in FIG. 2, the lineal 1 being comprised of the fascia, gutter, and rear extension portions, while lineal 2 is the soffit.

The walls 19 and 20 of the gutter portion terminate, respectively, opposed, inwardly directed edges of the rear extension 18 and an elongated horizontal wall portion 17a of the fascia 17, which locates the gutter over the soffit 22, and preferably in a manner spaced therefrom.

Along the rear edge of the rearwardly extending wall portion 18 are provided, elongated slotted openings 18a, the openings preferably being spaced apart by distances that place certain recurring ones of the openings at the locations of the rafters of the building to which the assembly is'to be attached.

In the two lineal system of FIG. 2, the fascia and soffit portions'thereof are shown mechanically connected-together by the elongated, mechanical interlocking arrangement indicated generally at 23 in FIG. 2. As shown, the lowermost edge of the fascia may be turned inwardly and then upwardly to provide an upstanding leg 24. The outer edge of the soffit 22, in turn, may be .turned upwardly and then downwardly to provide an inverter U-shapedmember having legs 25, 26 defining a channel into which the upstanding leg 24 is conveniently received.

The inner edge of the soffit 22 is shown in FIG. 2 as being provided witha depending wall or flange 22a having a hook or reverse bend portion 22b. Preferably, rearwardly extending dimples (not shown) are provided in the depending wall, and spaced apart therealong by distances that locate certain recurring ones of the dimples, like that of the openings 18a in 18, at the locations of the building studs.

Within the eavestructure A, as thus far described, are disposed reinforcing baffles 27, only one of which is shown in FIG. 2, the baffles being located at spaced apart intervals along the assembly. Baffles 27 are shaped to closely conform to the cross sectional configuration defined by extension portion 18, gutter side and bottom walls l92l, fascia portions 17 and 17a, soffit 22, and the side wall of a building, building 10 for example. As explained in greater detail hereinafter, the baffles provide the assembly 10A with structural integrity and a very high strength characteristic.

Along themarginal edges of the baffies 27 are provided flanges 28 that flex and mechanically frictionally engage the inner surfaces of the rear extension, gutter, fascia, and soffit portions when the baffles are positioned cross wise of the assembly.

The top rear flange 28 of the baffle 27, as seen in FIG. 2, extends rearwardly thereof at the angle of the rear wall extension 18 of the lineal 1. A short rear end portion of the top rear flange is employed as an upwardly extending tab, which, in FIG. 2, is shown at 280 in a bent over position for purposes discussed hereinafter. The lower end of the rear vertical flange of the baffle extends below the lower edge of the baffle to form a second tab or end 28b, as indicated in dash outline in FIG. 2.

If the building on which the assembly 10A is to be attached has insufficient ventilation, the soffit 22 can be provided with louvers 29, as shown in FIG. 2, or with perforations 30 as shown in FIG. 3, for ventilation purposes. The soffit of the assembly provides an ample area for such louvers or preforations, which area is located immediately below the beams 12 of building 10, and the spaces that exist therebetween. In this manner, the louvers or perforations are located to provide ample air flow into and from the spaces between the beams to cross ventilate the building.

To install the assembly 10A, as thus far described, and in which the two lineal system is used, lineal 2, i.e., the soffit 22, is first disposed face down on a planar surface, the ground, for example, or the roof of the building on which the assembly is to be attached. This places the channel of the inverted U (25,26) of the soffitin downwardly facing direction. The fascia 17 of lineal l is then located over the soffit, and the upstanding leg 24 of the fascia inserted into the channel of the inverted U of the soffit to form elongated connection 23 discussed above. The lineals 1 and 2 are made flush at at least one end thereof to align the slotted openings 18a in rear extension 18 with the dimples (discussed above but not shown) provided in the depending wall 22a of the soffit.

The baffles 27 are next disposed within the assembly by first lifting the rear wall extension 18 thereof, or otherwise spreading apart the lineals 1 and 2, to place the baffles therebetween. Preferably, each of the baffles is initially located along the lineals adjacent respective ones of the slotted openings 18a in the rear wall extension and the dimples in the depending soffit leg 22a that will be located opposite the beams of the, building on which the assembly is to be attached. The baffles are disposed to traverse the lineals and assembly, and are rotated (if it is not already in a vertical position) into a vertical plane. The height of the outer portion of the baffle, i.e., the portion between the gutter wall 20 and fascia 17, is dimensioned to frictionally engage the upper horizontal wall 17a of the fascia and the base of the inverted U (25, 26) of the soffit to secure the connection 23 between the fascia and soffit.

With the baffles 27 in a transverse, vertical position between the lineals 1 and 2, the tab 28a at the rear of each baffle is inserted through the opening 18a adjacent thereto (at the rear of extension wall 18) and the lower end 28b of the rear baffle flange 28 is seated in the channel 22b of depending soffit wall 22a. The tab 28a is now bent forward over the rear wall 18, as shown in FIG. 2, to lock the baffle in its'transverse, vertical position. A hole (not shown but in axial alignment with 34 in FIG. 2) is preferably provided in the lower tab end 28b of each baffle for receiving the adjacent dimple in the soffit leg 22a discussed above.

With a length of the assembly 10A assembled in the manner just described, the assembly is sufficiently rigid and in the form of a unitary structure such that a workman can now carry it to the roof edge for convenient attachment thereto. More particularly, the assembly is located at the roof edge of say building 10 in a manner that places the rear extension 18 of the assembly on the building roof 16, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the soffit edge 22a in contact with the vertical wall 14 of the building. The workman can now quickly attach the assembly to the building by driving a fastening means 32, such as a nail, through at least those of the slotted openings 18a containing the bent over tabs 28a of the baffies 27, and a fastening means 34 through each of the above discussed dimples provided in the depending soffit wall 22a, and'through corresponding ones of the openings (not shown) provided in the lower flange ends 28b of the baffles into which the dimples protrude.

As discussed above, the openings 18a of the rear linear extension 18 and the dimples (not shown) in the depending soffit wall 22a are spaced apart in such a manner that the baffles will be located at the beam locations of a building. In this manner, the assembly 10A is securely fastened to the frame of the building when the fastening means 32 and 34 are driven through the baffle tabs 28a and b.

To further secure the baffles 27 relative to the soffit 22, a rivet or other suitable fastening means can be employed at 36, the rivet extending through the lower horizontal flange of each baffle and the soffit at location generally forward of the louvers 29 in the embodiment of FIG. 2. y

The unitary eave structure of the invention, with its attachment to a building in the manner described, is very strong and highly resistant to both positive and negative loads imposed thereon. Positive, downwardly directed forces imposed on the eave are resisted by the abutment of the baffles against the side wall of the building, and by the shear resistance of the fastening means 32, 34 and 36. Conditions that tend force the assembly A in a downward direction, act along the plane of a building roof, roof 16 for example, and vertically, i.e., directly into the gutter 21. Such forces thereby act upon the fasteners 32 and 34 in shear, the shear resistance of simple fastener such as nails being their strongest resistance. Thus, in this manner, the cave of the invention is highly resistant to downwardly directed forces. I

In addition, the baffles, each-having a solid vertical wall extending in the general direction of downward forces, is highly resistant thereto. Any tendency of the vertical baffle to move downwardly is resisted, as just mentioned, by the side wall of a building. The only other direction of possible baffle displacement, under extremely high downward pressures, would be a twisting or rotational movement within the eave and about an axis generally transverse thereto. In such a case, such a movement is resisted by the fastener 36 in a high strength manner, i.e., the force of such a twisting movement is in a direction that places the fastener in shear.

Forces directed against the unitary cave of the invention in an upward, generally vertical direction, and in" an upward direction along the plane of the building roof are similarly directed primarily against the shear resistance of the fasteners 32 and 34 to provide (again) a high strength eave structure under such force conditions.

In addition to its high strength characteristics, as well as its economics in manufacture and installation, the eave of the invention as depicted in FIG. 2, provides for relative axialmovement of the lineals 1 and 2, that can occur with temperature differentials between the two, to thereby reduce stress and buckling tendencies that occur under such conditions with rigidly connected structures. With bright sunlight directed upon the upper portion of the cave, i.e., upon lineal 1, a substantial difference in temperature can occur between lineal 1 and lineal 2, particularly in higher temperature climates, resulting in an elongation of lineal 1 with respect -to lineal 2. By virtue of the elongated slots 18a provided in the rear extension of lineal 1, and the elongated mechanical connection 23 between the fascia and soffit, the lineal l is free to move relative to the lineal 2. To this end, in fastening the rear extension 18 to a roof, the fasteners 32 should be centered in the slots 18a, and driven a distance into the roof sufficient to thoroughly secure the lineal but not sufficient to bind it in such a manner that it cannot expand or contract linearly with changes in temperature and weather conditions.

For purposes of making the rear extension 18 of the eave 10A more rigid, the extension can be provided with a reverse bend 38 located along the rear edge thereof. Such a bend, in combination with an elongated apron hook 39, can be used as a fastening means alternate to fasteners 32 to secure the eave to a roof, as shown in FIG. 3. The soffit 22 can similarly be attached to vertical walls of a building, as shown in FIG. 3.

Structure embodying the present invention can be fabricated of any desired or convenient length. Further, successive lengths can be interconnected, one to another, by suitable joining means, thus making it possible to have a continuous eave unit extending around or along an entire building to which it is attached.

The eave assembly of the invention is preferably fabricated of relatively light-weight materials, sheet aluminum for example, in a manner utilizing the flexibility of the material to provide interengaging structures that eliminate the need for special assembly tools and/or skilled'labor.

In addition to all of the foregoing advantages as described above, the embodiment utilizing a substantially planar soffit portion (lineal 2) that is separately formed from the fascia and gutter portion (lineal 1) provides further economies in shipping and storage space since the fascia-gutter portions of the assembly can be.

stacked one within another.

Further, in shipping, handling and installing, the eave of the present invention has very few parts. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, there are only the two lineals, two end caps (not shown) and a plurality of baffles sufficient to provide the structural integrity described above. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, which uses an integrally formed soffit, only one lineal member is involved.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be obvious that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the invention, and it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A unitary gutter, soffit and fascia structure providing an overhanging structural eave for attachment to a roof structure that terminates along the upper outer edge of a side wall of a building comprising in combination an elongated rearwardly-extending wall portion having one edge adapted to be attached to said roof,

of the eave, and located within the eave in a manner traversing same, said baffle providing the eave with a rigid, high strength characteristic, the bafi'le engaging the connecting means to maintain the soffit and fascia in mechanical interconnection.

2. The structure of claim 1 including means for locating and fixing the baffle means in a transverse position within the eave;

through said one opening.

- ings, said flange having an end portion for insertion 4. The structure of claim 1 in which the soffit has a retum bend portion providing an elongated channel,

and the baffle means has a lowerextension for seating in the channel when the baffle means is disposed in a position traversing the cave. v

5. The structure of claim 1 in which the soffit is provided with ventilating openings.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE V. CERTIFICATE OF CQRRECTION 'Patent No. 3,824,749- Dated July 23, 1974 Ihventor(s) Thomas W. SCheff I It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading of the patent, Aluminum Company of America is indicated as beir xg in Allegheoy, Pa. rather than is Pittsburgh,

Signed and sea led: this 19th day of November 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

MCCOY M. GIBSON JR. I C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. A unitary gutter, soffit and fascia structure providing an overhanging structural eave for attachment to a roof structure that terminates along the upper outer edge of a side wall of a building comprising in combination an elongated rearwardly-extending wall portion having one edge adapted to be attached to said roof, an elongated substantially vertical fascia wall portion, a third wall portion interconnected between said one edge and said fascia wall portion and defining therebetween an elongated gutter channel, an elongated substantially horizontal soffit mechanically connected to said fascia portion by an elongated connecting means and extending rearwardly therefrom toward said building side wall and at a location below said gutter channel when said structural eave is attached to said roof structure, and at least one reinforcing baffle having a configuration corresponding to the cross sectional configuration of the eave, and located within the eave in a manner traversing same, said baffle providing the eave with a rigid, high strength characteristic, the baffle engaging the connecting means to maintain the soffit and fascia in mechanical interconnection.
 2. The structure of claim 1 including means for locating and fixing the baffle means in a transverse position within the eave.
 3. The structure of claim 1 in which the rearwardly extending wall portion has openings spaced apart in lengthwise direction thereof, and the baffle means has a flange extending in the direction of one of said openings, said flange having an end portion for insertion through said one opening.
 4. The structure of claim 1 in which the soffit has a return bend portion providing an elongated channel, and the baffle means has a lower extension for seating in the channel when the baffle means is disposed in a position traversing the eave.
 5. The structure of claim 1 in which the soffit is provided with ventilating openings. 